JUKEBOX

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Dr. Goodword
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JUKEBOX

Postby Dr. Goodword » Wed May 21, 2008 11:16 pm

• jukebox •

Pronunciation: juk-bahks • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: An automatic record or CD player, decorated with a colorful display of flashing lights, that plays a song for a coin.

Notes: Today's word is based on an African word for "bad", juke, also found in juke joint, those roadside dives of the 30s and 40s that offered drinking and dancing to the driving public. The same word is also used as a verb, juke "to dance, to go out dancing". When I was growing up in the South, juking meant driving around in a car until you found a juke joint, had a few drinks, and danced away the night. (Juke joints offered other pleasures, as well.) At least, that is what I heard; decent young men like me avoided such places.

In Play: It is amazing that jukeboxes have not vanished from the face of the earth. Today, the computer is a jukebox that everyone can afford, playing music downloaded from the Internet. Most clubs and cafes have adapted. Still, collectors of the traditional jukebox abound and there is a lively trade in them. New-fangled jukeboxes that play CDs are also being manufactured, though, as much for their circusy light displays as their music.

Word History: This Good Word started out in the southern US, probably in the Gullah language of coastal South Carolina or Florida, where juke means "bad, wicked, disorderly". The word found its way into Gullah from a West African language like Wolof, where dzug means "to live wickedly". The word first attached itself to the juke joints (=naughty houses). The nickel-in-the-slot machines (as they were originally called) that provided dance music in juke joints soon picked up the shorter name, jukebox. It reflects the attitude of puritanical southern Christians, many of whom even today do not cotton much to dancing.
• The Good Dr. Goodword

richard
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Jukebox

Postby richard » Thu May 22, 2008 7:06 am

Then Dr G who grew up in the South probably remembers the words to the popular song which begins "Hey, good lookin', what cha got cookin'.... I've got a hotrod Ford an' a two-dollar bill. I know a place right over the hill.

richard

sluggo
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Re: Jukebox

Postby sluggo » Thu May 22, 2008 10:47 pm

Then Dr G who grew up in the South probably remembers the words to the popular song which begins "Hey, good lookin', what cha got cookin'.... I've got a hotrod Ford an' a two-dollar bill. I know a place right over the hill.

richard
So much pop/pap music is pushed into/onto the culture by marketing in the absence of merit. Hank Williams' "Hey Good Lookin'" is a pleasant exception.
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!

richard
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Re: Jukebox

Postby richard » Fri May 23, 2008 8:46 am

From www.cowboylyrics.com:




Artist: Classic Country
Song: Hey, Good Lookin' - Hank Williams
Album: Classic Country: 1950-1964 Classic Country Sheet Music
Classic Country CDs




Hey, hey, good lookin',
Whatcha got cookin'?
How's about cookin' somethin' up with me?
Hey, sweet baby,
Don't you think maybe
We could find us a brand new recipe?
I got a hot-rod Ford and a two-dollar bill
And I know a spot right over the hill.
There's soda pop and the dancin's free,
So if you wanna have fun come along with me.
Hey, good lookin',
Whatcha got cookin'?
How's about cookin' somethin' up with me?

I'm free and ready,
So we can go steady.
How's about savin' all your time for me?
No more lookin',
I know I've been tooken [sic].
How's about keepin' steady company?

I'm gonna throw my date-book over the fence
And find me one for five or ten cents.
I'll keep it 'til it's covered with age
'Cause I'm writin' your name down on every page.
Hey, good lookin',
Whatcha got cookin'?
How's about cookin' somethin' up with me?

I looked up the lyrics to see if "jukin'" was there to go with the repeated, similar sounding lookin' and cookin' (and tooken). Apparently the song writer assumed that the listener would know that the music for the dancin' would come from a jukebox, and know to add his own jukin'.
An editor (not me) added the "[sic]" after tooken, I guess for those who are unfamiliar that word.

richard

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Postby Perry » Fri May 23, 2008 2:35 pm

I'm gonna throw my date-book over the fence
And find me one for five or ten cents.
I'll keep it 'til it's covered with age
'Cause I'm writin' your name down on every page.
Between inflation and the technolution, one would be hard put to make this verse come true.
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
Anonymous


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